


Five Ways To Join The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division

by reena_jenkins, sk_lee



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Audio Format: Streaming, Borrows Heavily From Comics Canon, Gen, Podfic, Podfic & Podficced Works, Pre-Thor 2, Team Sheppard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-29
Updated: 2013-11-29
Packaged: 2018-01-02 09:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sk_lee/pseuds/sk_lee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or: Team Sheppard will find their way to each other, no matter the universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Ways To Join The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division

 

 

**Download 11.3MB 96k 16:29 Mp3 @ Box:[HERE](https://app.box.com/s/taajiw8dv7lt5ebabetbu58ghfw19xu6)**

 

Major John Sheppard loves his job. He lives for the freedom and solitude of pulling past the bounds of gravity, shedding everything but the mission behind him as he flies. He's the leader of his squadron, a soldier his men look up to, and if he's not on the fast track to a promotion then he's at least got a solid service record behind him. 

But then there's a bogey sighted during a routine training exercise over the desert in Afghanistan, and John's scrambling to outfly the kind of anti-aircraft heat-seeking missiles that aren't supposed to exist - much less be attacking his wings during a practice bout. He watches through his visor with disbelieving eyes, as the bogey resolves itself into a man-shaped blur, and starfishes itself to the underbelly of Jared's - Holland's - plane. There's a moment when John's not sure if the thing - too small to be a plane, so it must be some kind of drone? UAV? - is trying to blow him out of the air or just protect itself, but then whatever-it-is intercepts Jared's seat mid-freefall. John's heart wants to stop in his chest until he sees the 'chute deploy, but he's pulling six Gs right now, dodging explosives and flying like he's never done even in combat, so it can't. 

He gets back to ground, struggles out of his G-suit, and stomps through the base for the debrief (whatever, John nearly died today, and he's still not sure if Holland survived; he can stomp if he wants to). John is prepared to answer every question posed to him with, "How the hell should I know? Sir," until someone lets him know his squad is alright. Belligerence in the face of his superiors isn't necessarily the best course of action, but John's blood is up and nothing about the last three hours has made any kind of sense. 

But there isn't one of John's superior officers waiting in the office, by the time his dignity has reasserted itself and he's managed to walk calmly into the room. There's an accountant, or someone who might look like an accountant if accountants also had shoulder-holsters under their polyester suits, waiting for John instead. 

"My name is Agent Coulson. I'd like to talk to you about SHIELD," says the not-an-accountant, and John's life changes.

 

 

Meredith Rodney Ingram McKay was recruited by the Strategic Homeland Initiative of Blah Blah Blah straight out of High School. True, he was only twelve years old at the time, and he's actually a Canadian citizen working for a nominally-international-but-mostly-American organization, and it started on something of a probationary basis (seeing as at the time, he was a minor) - but when one makes a fully-functional 'model' nuclear bomb for the science fair, complete with uranium core and a rather sophisticates targeting system (if he does say so himself), one tends to attract a certain kind of attention from shadowy undercover agencies. And when representatives from both CSIS and SHIELD showed up on his parents' doorstep, the day after Rodney lost first place to a potato alarm clock of all things, Rodney was - quite understandably - in a bit of a mood. 

Despite his disgust that day with the general world around him, and the specific morons who were responsible for the state of public education in Alberta, Rodney managed to sit on his mother's living room sofa and survive the 'meeting' with the CSIS agents (read: interrogation, but with a more polite threat of handcuffs) without unleashing the kind of verbal vitriol that would get him arrested for treason. 

Then Agent Carter got her turn to talk. 

"SHIELD would like to invite you on as a consultant, Rodney. You'd still be getting your education, living your life here, but you'd be conducting your more….volatile experiments at SHIELD's direction." 

"Really. That sounds suspiciously easy, and not at all like what Tall, Dark, and Looming over there threatened me with."

"Really. SHIELD does this all the time, Howard Stark was a consultant."

In the end, Rodney chose to hand his future over to the organization least likely to lock him in an underground bunker without sunlight or peanut butter sandwiches. If Rodney's decision was influenced by the communication tech Agent Carter flashed at him, and her proposal that Rodney could mess around with their equipment if he thought he could make it better, who could say? (And Agent Carter might have name-dropped Tony Stark, but what of it? Surely she wasn't playing off a 12-year-old's need to show up his peers…. right?)

Anyway, all that was over twenty years ago, and Rodney's so firmly entrenched in the bowels of SHIELD by now that he couldn't be dislodged with one of Stark's fancy Jericho missiles. Not that Stark's the be-all end-all of explosions, anyway - Rodney could make a bigger bang with his eyes closed, if he felt like it. He just prefers to direct his attention to questions other than, "Who can make the biggest boom?" Rodney's got plenty to keep him busy, including the initial setup and development for a new SHIELD research complex - all for Project PEGASUS. And if Project PEGASUS is so secret Stark doesn't even know about it, well, Rodney's not above a little pettiness.

 

 

In theory, SHIELD is a diverse and equal opportunity employer when it comes to seeking out new personnel; in practice, they tend to recruit from the same circles over and over again. Why else are there so many circus freaks wearing badges in the Commissary? No, really, why? (That's what Dr, McKay says, but only when he's sure that Agent Barton isn't sitting in the air ducts above his lab.)

Aiden Ford isn't sure of the numbers - he never really wanted to look - but it certainly feels like the higher-ups in SHIELD have a knack for spotting Red Room graduates. Even when, according to Agent Romanov, they aren't actually looking for one.

But SHIELD offered Aiden a way out of an op gone wrong, all for the low, low, price of turning himself into an asset for the organization. SHIELD saved his life, gave him medical attention, patched him up and presented him the opportunity to figure out if his enhanced strength came from God or a laboratory. Aiden's been the knife-hand of one organization or another for as long as he can remember - it shouldn't be hard to owe Agent Romanov his loyalty and his life.

The problem with Red Room alumni? Even when you think you're a graduate, there's always one more test.

Aiden's not ready to face the consequences of failure, yet.

 

 

Teyla Emmagan, daughter of Tagan, Speaker for Nornheim of the Nine Realms and Ambassador to Midgard, does not fall under the aegis of SHIELD's employ.

The All-Father may wish to claim superiority over her realm, between the might of Odin's standing army and the recklessness of brash, golden, Thor; but Teyla's people know the value of stillness and silence, waiting and watching as Jormungandr turns. Long have the Norns endured beneath the heel of Yggr, but longer still has Tagan guided her people's fates. Though Teyla herself possess no great strength of sorcery as her mother does, she is skilled in deception; the better one understands the enemy, the easier it is to slip by him unnoticed. After all, Teyla's gambit - an alliance with Midgard's extra-governmental peacekeeping force - is only partly because her Lady Mother wishes peace with the realm who turned back Thanos.

It seems that Agent Hill, Speaker for SHIELD at the signing of the Nornheim-Midgard Alliance Treaty, is aware of the tensions between the Aesir and the Norns. Faster than it takes for the ink to dry, she assigns Teyla to the care of one Agent Sheppard. 

"Why was I pulled out of Antarctica?" Teyla hears her would-be handler complain, as she bids her Lady Mother a safe journey through the branches of Yggdrasil.

"The battle of New York was the end of the world. This - now - is the new world. People are different. They have access to tech, to formula, secrets they're not ready for.  We don't need to add any intergalactic tension to that," Agent Hill's voice is dry.

"Alright, but if she tries to kill me in my sleep, I'm setting Rodney on you."

"Just go, Agent Sheppard. Try not to cause an incident. Please."

Teyla files this interaction away, behind the complacent mask of any good negotiator - or spy. Undermining Asgard may be easier than she anticipated, if this is how guilelessly the people of Midgard conduct their business. Her eyes and demeanor remains calm, but Teyla's mind is alight with possibilities.

 

 

Ronon Dex is a survivor. He is a survivor, and that makes him a target. Sometimes, it feels like he's been a target his entire life.

For seven years, Ronon ran from the destruction of his homeland, away from memories of burning buildings and screaming children and dying strangers. Eventually, grief turned to rage, and running turned to chasing - after hints, wraiths in the night, scraps of information about the one who killed them all. Running and chasing and tracking and hunting, heedless of collateral damage in his pursuit of vengeance, until he came across a name: Valkyrie.

It's not a lot to go on, but it's better than the ghosts of an entire nation haunting his dreams. 

Ronon Dex never intended to cross paths with SHIELD, but if they're chasing after the same evil that destroyed his home in an attempt to antagonize Asgard, he's more than willing to share the bloodshed.

 

 

The mission goes wrong from the start.

Aiden is missing, presumably gone rogue along with some Ancient Asgardian Muckitymuck. ("The Dread Sorceress Amora," Teyla reminds John after their mission briefing. John likes his title better. Also, he might possibly regret showing Teyla 'The Princess Bride' as a part of her Introduction To Midgardian Culture, because she's been greeting everyone as The Dread Agent May or The Dread Doctor Simmons ever since. John didn't know she had a sense of humor, honestly.) Rodney is the only one who knows how to deactivate the very scientific explosion Aiden triggered as a parting gift for Director Fury. ("It's an exogenesis device, John. If he aims it at the Earth, say goodbye to life as we know it, because it'll literally destroy the entire surface of the planet and remake it in Aiden's image. Aiden would make a terrible Jesus, John. He'll probably fill the whole place with lemons.") Teyla's taken charge of hunting their quarry down, using her familiarity with Amora's special brand of crazy and sorcery to narrow down the number of planets where she might be hiding Aiden. ("Every time I think I could learn to like you, you mention the crazy magic nonsense," Rodney rants, "Why do you always have to remind me that your people don't believe in science?") 

And John? John gets to drive the bus. ("Puddlejumper." "Spaceship." "Puddlejumper." "It's a spaceship that looks like baked ziti!" "She's my Puddlejumper, and if you can't be nice, you can walk, Rodney." "Ugh. Have it your way.") John's looking forward to this mission. He hasn't been in the field in ages.

Driving a spaceship through a rip in space and time is a trip and a half, but other than that, there's not much joy for anyone. It turns out that Aiden's loyalty is easily bought - Amora, called Valkyrie, never even used her skill to enchant him, just offered Aidan more protection from Red Room than SHIELD could. There's a whole big O-K Corral moment that goes down when the SHIELD team finally catches up, lots of scrambling and shooting and throwing and posturing. John is aware that tactics never survive past the first engagement with the enemy, but he wasn't expecting things to fall apart quite this badly. 

Amora escapes off-world, taking Aiden with her. Teyla scored a hit off one of her engines, at least, so she's running away no-where fast. On top of that, somehow a civilian got drawn into things. It's possible that the stranger was also hunting Amora across the galaxy, and simply stumbled into their big showdown. John's a little unclear, actually, how this knife-wielding pile of biceps is involved in everything…but he saved Rodney's life while Rodney was disarming the Terrifying Terraformer, and the mission was supposed to end with four seats filled for the return trip anyway…  

As he docks the Puddlejumper at the hangar in Antarctica, John's greeted by Agent Ward's unsmiling face. "He followed you home. You're responsible for housetraining him and getting him all his shots." 

John merely smirks in reply. Because even though the debriefing for this mission is going to be terrible, and he doesn't know much more about Ronon than his skill with knives, and Aiden is still missing, and Teyla is probably planning an inter-dimensional coup at this very moment, and Rodney's brain is terrifying, he's pretty sure it'll all work out. 

This is exactly how he felt after his first meeting with Agent Coulson, after all.

 

[the end]


End file.
